


Alea iacta est (The die has been cast)

by kuhekabir



Series: To the beat of the drums [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Humor, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Insanity, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-29
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-09 22:12:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuhekabir/pseuds/kuhekabir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Clara's parting words echoing through his mind, the Doctor is off, chasing down elusive leads with only one goal in mind. This time, he will not fail. This time, he and the Master will fix their issues. Even if they take the whole universe with them.<br/><i></i><br/>"Four," she rasped, blood trickling from her lips as her life slowly faded away. Her eyes focused on his, not letting him even blink. With her last strength, her fingers dug into the palm of his hands. "The drums aren’t loud, they're…"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! *waves* I've been one a long time. I can't really leave update post here, so sorry if I couldn't tell you guys how busy life was at the moment. Just to give you an idea: finishing uni, changing jobs, moving to ANOTHER COUNTRY...well, I wanted to write, but I had no time to think.
> 
> I will be working over the summer to finish all my WIPs - PROMISE. But for now, I needed to get this plot bunny out of my head. I just randomly inserted this story somewhere in the current season of Doctor Who. I probably should also warn for this being an AU story from now on, but pairing the 11th Doctor with the Master, kind of gives this way, no? I do wish the Master (Simm) would show up, but I guess that's never going to happen. Oh well, a girl can dream, yes? And as always, if you like the story, please let me know. It drives my muse and makes me happy!
> 
> (You can also find me under kuhekabir on LJ – but I am hardly there any more – and by googling Anna Marie May). Thanks for stopping by!

"Hey, techie."

The bloody inefficient circuit was driving him nuts. He growled at it. Humans were brilliant, they sure were, but right now he would give his right limb for his sonic. _Weeeell_ , he drew out the word inside his head. Maybe a good smash and stomp to pieces would work too.

He paused. He chewed on his left cheek. Violence never was the answer. And yet, ever since…his thoughts stuttered to a halt. No, he couldn’t go there. The darkness had always dwelled inside of him. The Master had been right. They were more alike than he would've ever admitted to.

"You deaf? Surely, the piece of crap can't be more interesting than talking to me."

He still wouldn’t have paid the annoying voice any heed, if the last comment wasn’t followed by a strong hand clamping down hard on his shoulder. He jerked, twisting sideways.

"Hey, I'm sorry…!" The guy raised his hands in a half-hearted mock-defeat reaction, going even so far as to take a few steps backwards. "We need your help."

His brows furrowed. He must be even more off than he'd thought. Jack on a good day gave of _wrong_ vibes like a damn furnace, so why hadn't he known he was nearby? The Doctor crooked his head, sniffing the air. He reached out with his mind, trying to gauge what had gone wrong. Sure, now that he was looking for it, the air did seem to bend and shiver wherever Jack went. Like a stone forcing its way through a pond, sending ripples, also known as shockwaves, through the otherwise still water. Buuuuut, if he didn’t look for it…the Doctor frowned some more. Why hadn't he noticed Jack sooner? He should've sensed him long before he had come this close.

He hadn't looked up any of his old friends since his regeneration. His tenth form had been quite attached to them. Sure, it wasn’t as if he didn’t think about them, or missed them, but with everything he'd lost…and then there had been Amy, well, distance had been better for everyone. Could it be that he'd adjusted to the _wrongness_ always surrounding Jack? Could it be that his previous incarnation had been more sensitive? It wasn’t unheard of, he mused. There were times where he was more bodily fit than others. Sometimes his telepathy also got stronger, so maybe, this time around, he wasn’t as sensitive to Jack like he'd been before?

But that made no sense. He was a Time Lord. Jack was a fixed point which shouldn’t exist. His time sense hadn't suffered. So, what was it then? Did he just no longer care? He doubted a fix point had changed its nature. That just didn’t happen. So, like always recently, the problem was him. Oh goody.

"I'm busy," he brushed Jack off. His hearts skipped a beat, hoping Jack would leave. Sadly, the guy was still as annoying as he'd always been. Once he got his mind set on something, he was like a dog with a bone. No, strike that. Like a Venetian Fluxiraptor Vetorix. Once he got his long and sharp teeth into his prey, there was no letting go.

And he was busy. Whatever the problem was, Jack could handle it. Besides, it wasn’t as if he'd ignored them. He still had his phone. Sure, it was stuck in a corner somewhere, but surely if anyone would've called him, he'd have noticed, right?

"Look." Jack snatched the Doctor's tablet away from him, hiding it behind his back like the overgrown child he was. "I'm not kidding around here. We need your help. You might be new, but according to Admiral Decker, you're the best they've had in a long time."

The Doctor gritted his teeth. He didn’t have time for this. Bad enough he had to leave his trusted sonic in the Tardis. After all, one look at it, and the cat would've been out of the bag. Everyone knew _the Doctor loved his blasted sonic_. Of course, that fact would have to come back to bite him in the ass at some point, right?

"You must excuse Jack," Martha strolled into view, just as gorgeous as ever. Her long, sleek dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail. Despite the jeans and the casual sweater, she looked every inch a queen. "He hasn’t been housetrained yet."

Despite his best attempt, this got him to snort.

"I'm Doctor Jones," Martha introduced herself, holding out her hand for him to take. Instead of shaking it, the Doctor gave her a curt nod. His touch telepathy had gone a bit wonky since the incident with Clara. He wasn’t in the mood to get a shock from Martha. Lovely as she was, she also was quite the emotional one.

"You are James Koschei?" She asked.

The Doctor nodded again, a small smile on his face. It might be cheeky to use the Master's name as his supposed last name, but considering this insane mission was in honour of him, the Doctor felt quite justified. Besides, he found it amusing. It was an inside joke between him and…well, the universe he supposed, since no one else was there to share it with him.

"Sure am," he answered, barely able to restrain a snicker. He honestly didn’t need to look as deranged as the Master.

"We do need your help, Mr. Koschei…"

The Doctor tuned her out. That just sounded wrong. "James, please," he insisted. 

"James then," she diplomatically told him. "This is about the Doctor. You know how important he is to UNIT and to Earth."

The Doctor blinked. Maybe he shouldn’t have tuned her out the he way he had.

"Look," Jack stepped into his space, larger than life. Clearly, the guy thought he could intimidate him. The Doctor gave him a withering glare. He'd stared more dangers in the face than he could count. He even laughed at his enemies. He wasn’t going to even flinch just because a certain delusional Captain looked at him cross-eyed.

"No one has heard from the Doc in a while. And then the Tardis just shows up outside Torchwood…"

"What?" The Doctor couldn’t quite stifle his note of alarm. He'd left his Sexy with River. What the hell happened? Couldn’t the woman babysit even a Tardis without getting into trouble? He left out the part where he'd kind of snug off with her vortex manipulator, leaving her to _babysit_ without expressly telling her so. She would've just kicked up a fuss and then told him not to go.

"No one's in there," Jack hurriedly told him. "Don’t worry. Even if you're the best, no one can break into the Tardis."

"How did you get in then?" The Doctor demanded to know.

Seconds later, Jack dangled a key in front of his nose. Oh, he'd totally forgotten about that. Was he getting senile in his old age? The Doctor reached up, intending to adjust his bow tie only for his fingers to grab nothing. He let of a string of curses in Gallifreyan underneath his breath.

"What language is this?" Martha asked him. "It sounds beautiful. Kind of reminds me of something…"

Before she could connect any dots, the Doctor interrupted her. "Hungarian," he lied. To change the topic, he added. "So if you don’t want me to hack the Tardis, what do you need me for then?"

"I need you to see if you can figure out when the Tardis landed and get any footage to go with it."

The Doctor gave Jack the sink eye. He folded his arms across his chest, tilting his head sideways. His slightly floppy hair fell over his eyes. With a disgruntled sigh, he brushed the brown strands out of his face. "You can't seriously expect me to believe you need me to gather your footage. Don't you people at Torchwood know how to do this?"

Jack looked ready to explode. Martha placed a hand on his shoulder which, oddly enough, seemed to calm him down.

"Of course, we can do this on our own. But we need you to get into the secure files here at UNIT. We think they're hiding something from us and we need to know what."

The Doctor snorted. He had his doubts about any military organisation, but UNIT at least didn’t seem to employ the usual shoot first and ask questions later policy. They only maimed first before asking questions. Besides, what files could they possibly have on him? He frowned. Then again, why by the Moons of Royroom, was his Sexy in Cardiff? And where was River? And wasn’t he here, pretending to be a new employee at UNIT, for exactly the same reasons? They were hiding something, he was sure of it.

He'd contemplated forcing his way in to get what he wanted. He could've just shown up, talked to whoever was in charge, go all Doctor-like and get what he wanted. But something deep inside him had urged him to caution. He usually didn’t do stealth. By Gallifrey, he usually didn’t do deception. He much rather jump head first into the fight and be done with it. The Master had always been so much better at carefully planning things and be all sneaky about it.

But with Clara, well, River would've stopped him. Hell, if she'd involved Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax, they could've easily tried to stage an intervention. People could be annoying that way if they thought he needed help. Or, by all that anyone considered holy, if anyone thought he might be a bit unstable and not dealing with his grief, they would surely put all the stops. River had hinted more than once she was working on contingency plans to keep him safe. For his own sake, of course. The nonsense!

And besides, he'd been pretending to work at UNIT for two weeks now, learning the layout, and getting all the schematics he could get his hands on. He would've broken into the secure server room either tomorrow or the day after, so why not sooner? It would be easier with help. And both Martha and Jack were nothing if not skilled in the art of distraction. It wasn’t as if he would be using them. They had asked him to break in!

"You want me to risk my job because you're asking me nicely?" The Doctor played hard to get.

"It's the Doctor we're talking about here!" Jack hollered. As if just saying his name would get any mortal to immediately jump off a roof. The Doctor scoffed. Jack's devotion was nice, it really touched his hearts. But did he honestly expect a complete strange to just roll over because he said so?

"We can pay," Martha offered.

"Martha," Jack complained, giving his friend a horrified look.

"Jack, since when are you this squeamish?" She asked. She turned to face the Doctor again. "What would it take for you to do this for us?"

"Don’t you have any tech people of your own to do this for you?"

Jack looked shifty. Martha avoided looking at him. "Oh," the Doctor finally connected the dots. "You'd rather risk a complete stranger than involved one of your own."

"Look," Jack hissed at him. "You're pretty, but this got nothing to do with it."

"Huh?" For a moment, the Doctor couldn’t follow Jack's strange leaps.

"My team's not what it used to be," Jack told him. "I haven't re-staffed because I didn’t want to. And you're the best. Everyone here says so. Even Decker, and the guy hardly admits to being alive just to be contrary. So, will you help us or not?"

The Doctor chewed on his lower lip, pretending to think things over. What would the Master do? A slightly evil grin spread across the Doctor's face. "I'll help you," he said, lips quirking upwards. "But in exchange, I want you to hook me up with pleasure dust from one of the Darten Moons."

"How do you know about this?" Martha studied him as if he'd just grown two head heads.

The Doctor's grin widened. He gave a harmless looking shrug which was anything but. "I might've taken a peak at a few files once I've heard rumours about your alien friend. It's not as if it was hard."

His simple answer seemed to pacify Martha's suspicion. However, he hadn't counted on Jack's sudden interest. The guy moved closer, right into the Doctor's personal space. Despite wanting to take a step backwards, he stood his ground, not moving an inch.

"Do you want company with the dust?" Jack finished the sentence with a wink. The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I here it's quite stimulating," Jack didn’t really need to draw out the last word. Even someone completely dense would catch his meaning.

"Seriously? Do you have to flirt with anything?"

The Doctor realized his mistake almost instantly, so he rushed to make up for it. He placed his hands on Jack's hips, yanking the Captain towards him. He leaned in, whispering into the man's ear. "If you're serious though," he said with a breathless voice, "then you can bring the dust to my room."

He moved a little bit backwards, giving Jack a wink of his own. Flirting like this wasn’t something he usually did, but hey, he was already so far out of his comfort zone, he might as well have entered an alternate universe. Besides, wasn’t it time for a new _him_? He'd changed face so often, he could barely remember how he'd started out. But his personality hadn’t really changed. Sure, a few traits got augmented while others took a beak seat depending on the regeneration, but his core self never changed. According to Koschei, he was repressed, keeping his real self on a tight leash. Maybe if he'd let his inner demons out to play once in a while, the whole mess could've been avoided. Then again, neither one of them had ever been perfectly stable. This was why their friendship had raised a lot of red flags back on Gallifrey. The Doctor and the Master, a team to watch out for.

And then it had all gone to pieces. Now though, the Doctor had his suspicions about the whole thing. Rassilion had driven the Master insane by reaching back in time and making the drums echo in Koschei's head. Then, he'd nearly succeeded in destroying the Earth and human kind with it. Not to mention, nearly killing the Master as well.

However, he hadn't counted on the Master and his connection. Sure, an outsider might think the Doctor and the Master were sworn enemies, and it was only sheer luck on the Doctor's part, that the Master hadn't killed him. Or skill, or whatever you wanted to call it. However, both knew, the reason was a different one. The Doctor couldn’t kill the Master for the very same reason the Master had never actually been able to kill the Doctor. They were connected. Love might've turned to something akin to hate, but they'd always been a team. Rassilion hadn't seen that. By Gallifrey, most wouldn’t even fathom the depth of connection between the two Time Lords.

The beat of four echoed through the Doctor's head, making him wince. No, the Master was alive again, he could feel it. The connection might be weak, at times even non-existent, but his hearts were racing while his mind was singing. Koschei was out there, and he was in trouble.

And Clara's death was connected somehow. This time, he wasn’t going to rest until he got all the answers he needed. The universe might be throwing him a bone here. Or maybe, he'd finally let his delusions get the better of him. Whatever _it_ was, this time they would find a way to fix their broken relationship. They might be in what River, or any sane person, would call a destructive relationship, but the Master was his, and the Doctor belonged to him.

The rest of the universe could just fall into the abyss for all he cared. Hadn't he done enough? Hadn't he sacrificed everything for the sake of others? For once he was going to be selfish, and damn anyone who would dare to stop him.

The mad man in a blue box had finally stepped off the ledge, and the abyss had stared back at him, answering his call.


	2. Chapter 2

The loud knock on the door had the Doctor twitching. When he rolled sideways, the mattress vanished. He landed on the floor. When he got up, he let out a string of curses.

"Coming!" He yelled. He ran his fingers through his thick hair, making it stick up at odd angles. He yanked the door open, glaring at whoever stood outside. "What do you want?" He demanded to know.

"Well, well," Jack's smug face had the Doctor's insides turning into liquid heat. "You're a sight for sore eyes. I think we can spare a few minutes, right?"

The Doctor gaped until the reality of the situation finally sunk in. His fingers twitched. He barely succeeded in keeping his hands at his sides. He wasn’t going to give Jack the satisfaction of trying to hide is naked upper body by folding his arms.

Clad only in his underwear, he simply continued to glare at Jack. "If it only takes a few minutes," the Doctor finally answered. "Then I'm afraid I'd rather keep using my right hand. It wouldn’t be worth it. I mean," he added with an exaggerate eye roll. "It even takes longer for me to completely undress, what would be my incentive be to get naked with you, if you can only last for a few minutes?"

He shook his head, laughing to himself before he turned his back to a speechless Jack.

"You kind of stepped into that one, Jack," Martha informed Jack in a teasing tone.

The Doctor ignored them. He rubbed his face. He reached down, grabbing his discarded jeans. He pulled them up over his longs legs and slim hips, fully aware of two pair of eyes following his every move. When he bent down to retrieve his shirt, Jack even gasped. He might've played up his assets to his advantage because two could play this game. And frankly, Jack deserved a little tease. The guy had delighted way too long in tormenting his previous regeneration with lewd comments and come-ons. Being incognito gave the Doctor the chance for a little revenge.

The thought alone warmed his hearts.

He pulled on his long-sleeved shirt before he sat down on the bed. He grabbed his socks and his boots. "What do you want now?" He asked. When he was fully dressed, he didn’t bother with getting up. He simply stared.

"We need to move now," Martha said. "Sorry for showing up in the middle of the night, but we've got new information."

"What kind of information?" the Doctor demanded to know. He flexed his fingers, missing his trusted sonic even more. He hadn't even realized how attached he'd gotten to the blasted instrument, how much he'd come to rely on it to ease his nerves. Wasn’t he a bit old for a _security blanket_?

"Here, let me show you," Martha held out a few pictures.

The Doctor took them. He stared at River's face as she exited the Tardis with a gun strapped to her hip. How she managed to walk around Cardiff and not get arrested was beyond him. The second picture must've been taken earlier because it showed her snap her fingers and his Sexy letting her into the ship.

"Either the Doctor regenerated into a woman," Jack said. "Or she has some kind of control over the Tardis."

The Doctor failed to see the problem. Well, _he_ had a problem, because it wouldn’t take River long to locate him. So, it was really a good thing for Martha and Jack to wake him. He didn’t need much sleep, not like humans did, but he did need to rest to recharge his batteries once in a while. Especially now with the constant pressure to his mind. How the hell the Master had stayed sane for so long he couldn’t fathom. Oh wait, he thought sarcastically. He hadn't.

Martha seemed to catch on because she answered before the Doctor could actually voiced his question out loud. "We still got keys to the Tardis, but only the Doctor can come and go like this. The Tardis is more than just his ship. She's a living being. I don’t quite understand how, but something must be really wrong for him to give up control like this."

"And for the Tardis let someone else walk in and out of her like that," Jack added.

The Doctor couldn’t find any fault in his friends' logic. Still, it was River. Being conceived on board did give her a few perks.

"All right," the Doctor went with the flow. With River around, it would be better anyway if they stepped up the time table. "I'll get my things. Meet me downstairs in five."

Before Jack could say anything, Martha grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him backwards. The Doctor quickly strapped his vortex manipulator to his wrist, hiding it under the long sleeves of his shirt. Then he grabbed his tablet. He'd made some changes to it, enhancing it, and he would need it in order to retrieve what he was looking for.

The drive to the UNIT base outside of Cardiff didn’t take long. They had no troubles in getting through the front gate since no one around here kept any normal working hours. Therefore, no one would bat an eyelash at three people accessing the base at 3 am in the morning.

The Doctor followed Jack's lead in sneaking into the more secure area. Once they were outside a locked door, they waited for him to take the lead. Their access pass only allowed the entry up to a certain point. Even the Doctor, disguised as a well trusted UNIT techie, wouldn’t be allowed access beyond this point. It was however almost horrifying how easy it had been for them to get this far.

The Doctor hooked up his tablet, quickly running a diagnostic. He frowned at the stats. "We can't get in this way."

"Surely someone as skilled as you can hack…" Jack started to say.

The Doctor interrupted him. "I can get us in, but it logs all entries."

No one understood his point, so he elaborated. "If no authorized entry code is logged with security within ten seconds of entry, the alarm is triggered. I don’t have any employ code, do you?"

"Can't you just run a diagnostic and come up with one?"

"Sure, if I had more time. Or if I had planned to sneak in the middle of the night."

Frankly, his plan of bypassing the security had been quite simple: use his manipulator to arrive inside. Sure, he fully expected to trigger gazillion of alarms the moment he appeared, but the automatic lock-down would've given him all the time he needed to get what he was looking for. Then, using the ventilation shafts, he would've proceeded to crawl down into the archive section for some more digging. Even UNIT wasn’t stupid enough to load up all files into a server. However, they did keep their older logs there, hence the name _archive_. Then, once he'd found what he was looking for, he would've teleported himself to safety once more.

Well, after disabling the automatic force field shielding the base. This was why he'd spent two weeks pretending to be human. For once, he'd taken a page out of the Master's book. His old self would've either tried to talk his way into access, or simply strolled in and then rolled with the punches. But since he didn’t know how much time he needed until he found what he was looking for, he hadn’t wanted to risk running out of time. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, two weeks out of eternity wasn’t much to sacrifice.

And now, he was rushing things again and messing with his prefect plan because his two human friends had shown up. Still, before crawling through the air vents, he'd kind of hoped he could bypass the entry system. They could still get in that way, but it would severely limit the time they had before the alarm was trigger. See, the system would send a request to a guard on duty to verify that the code entered matched with face recognition. If it didn’t, voila, the alarm was raised. There might be tons of automatic security measures installed, but UNIT was smart enough to also incorporate a human element. Systems could be hacked, humans could be bribed, but by using both elements, it became quite a lot trickier to bypass their systems.

He frowned. His brain hurt. He needed to stop with this pointless loop. Apparently when he'd stopped rambling outside his head, he'd started to do it on the inside. Might be time to make everyone else suffer alongside him, he mused.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing Jack's hand and hauling him with him. "I can get the maintenance access codes, no problem." He stopped in front of the access shute. "Give me a sec," his tongue peaked out as he worked his magic. Seconds later, he pulled off the hatch. "In you go."

Martha looked as if she was about to protest. The Doctor shrugged. He crawled in first. The expected positive exclamation from Jack followed. Seconds later, he could hear the guy crawling in after him. Even without looking back, he could tell Jack's eyes were trained on the Doctor's rear. He rolled his eyes at himself. Jack really needed to work on being less predictable.

It didn’t take them long before the Doctor led them out of the shafts into a deserted hallway. He didn’t waste any time. Instead, he rushed towards the access panel. "Once I'm in, I should have at least ten minutes before anyone finds out."

"Can't you disable…"

The Doctor interrupted him. "If you hadn't dragged me out of bed and stuck to the original plan, then I would've re-routed the guard's route. Plus, my plan was to lock down this area by initiating one of the periodic screenings." Lying did become easier with age, he thought.

"Screenings?"

The Doctor sighed in between working his magic on the door. "Yes, screenings. With so many alien incursions, they don’t like to run any chances of anything breaching their base. So, every once in a while, sticking to no real pattern, they lock down areas of the base, running an in-depth life scan. They close down the area to all humans, so nothing should show up."

"Not even bugs? What about flies?" Jack asked.

"They then release a very potent sleeping gas to knock out any intruder. They can still pick up the life signal, so they spend the next few hours checking up on anything. If the intruder is a mere fly, no harm done. If it's something alien, they quarantine it so they can question it."

"Sounds unpleasant," Martha said. "Can't they adjust their sensors so they only release the gas if non-human life is detected?"

The Doctor shrugged. He could give them the algorithms and sensors they needed. He was pretty sure if they involved Torchwood, Jack would be able to come up with something too. Not only did he have access to a lot of advanced tech, he was also from the 51st century. He surely would be able to rig up something in no time. But why wonder if this situation could've actually worked in his favour?

Besides, it wasn’t as if he'd been really concerned about this before. His plan hadn't involved doing actually any sneaking. Thankfully, the gas they had decided to employ seemed to be harmless. If it was skill or dumb luck, he couldn’t tell. Somehow, UNIT had come up with a sleeping potion that had no harmful effects at all. Well, a few insectoids might wake up with a killer headache, but that would be about it. 

"You stay out," he ordered when the door opened.

"But," Jack protested.

"No," the Doctor shoved him backwards. "The plan, remember? Distract the guard coming our way in about ten minutes. You woke me up, you'll make sure I get at least that long to run my search."

Besides, he didn’t really need anyone peaking over his shoulders. He had no intention of giving any information to Jack or Martha. Hell, he hadn't even honestly thought he'd be helping them in the first. Stringing them along had seemed like the best way to get them to leave him alone. He'd fully hoped to be long done before their date of choice had been there. Of course, the plan hadn't worked out that way since River had shown up. Despite the little fact screwing up his well-thought-out plan, he was glad Jack and Martha had come to him. Without them, River might've been able to catch up with him!

Before Jack could unleash one more of his trade mark snarky comments, the glass door shut in his face.

The Doctor shivered. He didn’t mind colder temperatures like humans did, but even he felt a bit chilled in the server room. He quickly located the main access terminal. He crouched down, hooking up his tablet.

With is sonic…he gave himself a mental slap. He wasn’t depended on the bloody sonic. Sure, it came in handy, but he could do this even without it. Hadn't he altered his tablet? 

He quickly ran the programmes he'd developed while keeping alert for what he was looking for. About three weeks ago, he felt a flutter in the corner of his mind. At first, he hadn’t thought anything of it.

Then Clara had gone and gotten herself shot.  
 _  
Her fingers tapped a familiar four-beat rhythm on the cold stone floor as her blood spilled out all over the Doctor's trousers. "Four," she rasped, blood trickling from her lips as her life slowly faded away. Her eyes focused on his, not letting him even blink. With her last strength, her fingers dug into the palm of his hands. "The drums aren’t loud, they're…"_

_Before she could finish the sentence, the light in her eyes went out. For a few moments, he could only stare. He shook her, expecting her to sit up and laugh at him, telling him it had all been one stupid joke._

_Nothing of the sort happened._

_She stayed dead. Eventually, he had to admit that for the third time around, he'd been unable to help Clara. When he let go, her lifeless body rolled onto the floor. "The drums aren’t loud," the Doctor mumbled the last words his latest companion had spoken. "They are the beat of time."_

_His eyes widened. What if the Master's drums weren't just Rassilion's instruments of torture? What if there was more to it? **He will knock for times**. Again with the four._

_What if whatever Rassilion had done, had affected the beat of four in a negative way. What if…his thoughts stuttered to a halt. He simply didn’t know. But what he did know was that there was something _there_._

_Clara's last words were not spoken in vein. Maybe she had been sent to show him this, to put him on the right path. Or maybe, he was seeing connections where there weren’t any. When, from one second to the next, the pressure on his mind increased, giving him a splitting headache, he could only gasp in shock._

_The drums echoed in his mind, beating in the scarily familiar four-beat rhythm. The noise deafened everything. For a moment, it even drowned out his sense of time, stilling everything around him, leaving him only with the eternal noise._

_And then, right there, right in his agony, he felt a flutter deep within in. An all too familiar mental connection flared up, making his hearts skip a few beats._

_**Master?** _

_Before he could grab a hold of the mental link, it vanished, leaving him feeling empty and bereft. But, where before nothing but darkness had been in his mind, a small flare of hope now resided. The sound of the drums vanished, leaving nothing but a dull pressure on his mind. They weren’t gone, they had merely retreated, lying in wait for a later time._

_Somehow, somewhere out there, the Master was alive again. He'd breached the time lock, using his connection with the Doctor to break free. Now, it was the Doctor's turn to find him, and to make sure no disaster followed in the Master's wake._

Something caught his eye, shaking him out of his thoughts. There, deeply buried in the code was what he was looking for. He quickly downloaded the files. Once they were on his tablet, he uploaded them to a secure location. He had no intention of getting caught, but after embracing the Master's way of doing things, he'd figured adding a bit of paranoia wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

Before he could pat himself on the back, the loud wail of a siren had him cringing in pain. What point was there to announce to a thief that he'd been caught? Wouldn’t it be smarter to let the intruder assume all was safe, and then sneak up on him? Humans…he thought, so brilliant, and yet so strange at times.

He was about to disconnect, when something else caught his eyes. No, this couldn’t be. Outside, he could hear Jack tapping on the glass door. He ignored him. This was more important.

On the edge of his awareness, he could hear parts of the conversation taking place outside the server room. His sensitive hearing, allowed him to be aware of more than a mere human could even fathom.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Harkness?" Someone with a deep baritone barked.  
If there was any answer, the Doctor didn’t catch it.

He focused on the script, wondering why no one had caught this before. There was something buried deep inside the code. It snaked around the human one, inserting its tendrils into already existing lines, twisting them, turning them into something barely recognisable. Soon it would emerge, spread out, and spell doom for anyone, or anything, connected to a computer. And frankly, in this darn age, what wasn’t connected?

He couldn’t let that happen.

"You need to get out of there!" The man, who'd yelled at Jack, was now pounding at the door, trying to get the Doctor's attention. "You triggered the lock-down."

Why was he telling him something he already knew? The moment the alarm went off, it had been obvious the lock-down had been initiated. 

"If you want to live, get out of there. The gas is deadly!"

This time, the Doctor's fingers stilled for a moment. Never mind, he decided. If he died, they would remove the gas eventually. He would regenerate, hopefully, and then he could be on this way. Not ideal, he rather not go through yet another regeneration, but he wasn’t going to stop. The risks clearly had to be taken. Besides, the bloody alien code was on to him. It slithered, trying to distract him, taunting him even at times by leaving traps for him. He wasn’t going to be defeated by some sentient code!

He'd deal with UNIT later. Hadn't he mentally congratulated them not too long ago about being human and not deploying deadly gas? Apparently, the server room didn’t merit the same consideration. Then again, if someone got this far, their intentions probably weren’t harmless. 

There was a loud clicking sound followed by a whirring one. He didn’t need to even lift his head to know the gas was slowly spreading through the room. He didn’t inhale, he didn’t want to trap anything toxic in his lungs before he used his respiratory bypass. It wouldn’t save him in the long run, but it gave him more time than a human would have.

There, this was the root. Mere tech wasn’t going to do the trick. He let go of his shields, reaching out with his mind. When he found the dark roots, swirling in the netherworld of cyberspace, he imagined blinding white strands twisting around it. Once secured, he added a sun to the image, forcing the alien darkness to be exposed even further. The foreign entity shrieked loud enough to nearly pierce his ear drums. Then, the code vanished from the tablet. Before he could relax, he was flung sideways, connecting forcefully with the wall. 

Instead of crumbling, he landed on his feet, the palm of his hands pressed onto the ground. He lifted his head, looking sideways at the swirling darkness. The humans outside must've managed to do something because the air slowly turned clear again.

Still, the Doctor didn’t dare to inhale. The gas might be toxic to humans, it might not kill him, but there was always a chance it might still incapacitate him. He'd rather not they find out about his two hearts. If he could, he'd rather slink away with them none the wiser. He honestly didn’t need to be slowed down.

"Oh no, you don’t…" An all too familiar voice threatened. River stepped into his line of sight like a fury on a mission. Her dangerously narrowed eyes gave him a _look_ full of promise before she pointed his sonic at the swirling darkness. 

He gasped, inhaling parts of the poisoned air. Only then did he notice the mask covering River's mouth and nose. Seconds later there was a squeal of pain and the alien entity dispersed into nothing. The Doctor assumed it was dead. He waited for the usual stab of sorrow at watching a life form being extinguished. Nothing came. Instead, all he felt was elation and something which could only be described as 'you tried to mess with me, now pay the price'.

His knees gave out. He slowly sank to the floor. Blurry edges creped into his vision. He wanted to swat at them, forcing them away, but he couldn’t move his hand. Led seemed to be attached his limbs, making him sink deeper and deeper into the murky waters of nothingness.

Leave it to River though to find a sure way to slap him back into focus. "Oi!" He objected, his right cheek smarting like hell. "What did you do that for?" Sensation slowly returned to his limbs. The darkness no longer seemed so inviting.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" She hissed at him, her hands on her hips, leg tapping with annoyance.

"Who is she?" Jack asked with barely veiled admiration. "I like a woman with fire her blood and a gun."

The Doctor refused her outstretched hand. Instead, he steadied himself on the wall. Once he was upright again, he glared at his friend. "You…" _made off with my Tardis_ was at the tip of his tongue. For obvious reasons, he didn’t finish the sentence. Clearly his mind must be addled if since he almost managed to give himself away there.

Any concern she might've had for his health seemed to take a backseat compared to her anger. She slapped him once more. Then, she shoved him backwards until he connected forcefully with the wall. He slid to the floor.

Martha suddenly appeared right in front of him, wedging herself right in between him and River. "Who the hell are you?" She demanded to know. "How did you get in here?"

The Doctor wheezed. Then, he coughed. He must've sounded more alarming than he realized, because seconds later Martha hovered in front of his face. She kept asking him lots of confusing questions. He couldn’t keep up. When it finally sunk in that she wanted to take him for some tests, he extracted himself from her, forcing himself to stand up.

"I'm fine," he insisted. He swayed a little bit but he didn’t fall again. And he wasn’t lying. Sure, if he'd been exposed a bit longer, the bloody gas might've actually done him in, but his superior physiology was going to expel the toxic left over from his body within the next ten minutes. He might end up with a headache the size of a small galaxy, but it was nothing he couldn’t cope with.

"She's the Doctor." The stranger in the back informed everyone. Not only the Doctor gasped in surprise. Martha went white as a sheet, Jack looked interested, and then confused.

"No, you're not," Jack told her. 

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" River rounded on him again. The Doctor stepped around her, inching towards the door. Then he remembered his vortex manipulator. Before he could spun the thought to its conclusion, River had his right hand in a vice grip. She pulled his shirt up, twisting his hand backwards so she could remove the device.

"Not fair!" He complained.

"You're grounded," she gritted out through clenched teeth. "Until you've found your sanity again, I'm locking you up."

"You can't do that," he told her. The stubborn look on his face intensified.

"I can and I will. Ever since we lost Amy and Rory, you've been unstable. You pouted for much longer than what could be considered as healthy. And I never liked how you attached yourself to Clara."

"You make her sound like some kind of disease," the Doctor complained.

"Even the Tardis couldn’t stand her," River countered. "The old girl is clearly smarter than you. And ever since she died, you've downright manic."

"Who the hell are you?" Martha jumped back into the conversation. "I don’t care what you've said, you aren't the Doctor."

"You don’t think I can change gender?" River challenged.

"No, you're not him," Jack backed Martha up. "I don’t know if he can turn into a woman, but I've seen two of his regenerations, and you aren’t anything like him."

The Doctor didn’t have to look to know that guns were now pointed at all of them again.

"If you aren’t the Doctor," the older man mused, "then who are you? How were you able to fly the Tardis into the command centre?"

"You flew the Tardis?" Both Jack and Martha asked in unison. "What did you do with him?" Jack added.

"I didn’t do anything do your precious Doctor," River snarled in her most dangerous voice.

Jack clearly didn’t believe her because he moved closer, looking ready to pounce.

River through her hands up in the air. On anyone else it might've looked like despair, but the Doctor knew better. River was getting dangerously annoyed. "I'm not him, I'm his wife."

"Oi," the Doctor objected again. "We aren't married. Just because you keep telling anyone differently, doesn’t make it so."

"He's the Doctor." She pointed at him. "And he's clearly left sanity in another universe."

"Hey!" The Doctor yelled at River. "Not fair! I knew you would only stop me. You can't blame me for running off. You do it all the time."

"I don’t usually natter on about drums for hours and then complain about a headache. And I'm not the one who chased after a woman you imagined dying two times over only to get her shot for a third time. I also never leave without saying goodbye."

"If I had told you where I was going…"

"I would have stopped you," River interrupted him. With a softer tone, she added, "You're a bit unstable right now, don’t you get that? I've seen the signs long before. The way you went after Amy? How you blew up an entire fleet just so Rory could ask a simple question? I knew what losing them would do to you, but I never imagined you would go this far."

"He blew up an entire fleet?"

"Drums? Didn’t the Master complain about drums?"

The Doctor had no idea who said what but he didn’t care. Metaphorical alarm bells were going off inside his head. River on her own would make a worthy enemy. She knew him, almost as well as Koschei did. And considering how protective Martha and Jack were, they would side with River once they got over the fact that he'd lied to them. He couldn’t risk them ganging up on him and derailing him. Not when he was this close. The trail might not be this warm come tomorrow.

Thinking on his feet was his strength. The Master might've always been the master planner between them. Cold, calculating and just simply brilliant. However, the Doctor had always been better at making up plans on the go. Or, as the Master had put, running with the first insane thought that popped into head, and then getting away with it because sane people simply wouldn’t think of it. Well, he wasn’t _insane_ , the Doctor amend. It was just, his thinking might be a bit more out of the box than what was even normal for other Time Lords. Their combined _thinking outside of the box_ had landed him and Koschei often enough in trouble.

And the Master needed him now. He might not know it, hell, he might still resent the Doctor, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. 

"I'm going after him," the Doctor told River. He put his most maniac grin on his face, hoping he could give an excellent Master-impression. From how uneasy Martha looked, it must be working. "I've got no choice…" he let his voice trail off, allowing his grin to change into his most pathetic look.

As hoped, River's gaze softened. Martha's alarm changed to concern. Even Jack looked worried. He let go of his shields, gauging how many soldiers were behind him and outside in the hallway. Despite the nature of the alarm, there were only two in addition to the supposed man in charge.

No one ever expected him to take up arms. Hell, even when he fought to retrieve Amy, he hadn't actually touched a weapon. The only time he had actually taken arms recently was when he'd pointed the gun at Rassilion. But, despite his supposed pacifistic ways, he'd been in a war. He might prefer to talk things out to a full on conflict, but he knew how to fight. And there was a reason why no human had ever beaten the Master in hand to hand combat. By Gallifrey, the only reason why Lucy had managed to take down a Time Lord was because the Master had been at the end of his wits. He hadn’t chosen death to escape the Doctor. At the time, the Doctor's hearts had nearly broken apart because he'd actually believed in what the idiot had told him. Time had put things into perspective. No, the Master had chosen the only escape left to him.

Death had been preferable to the constant onslaught of the drums. Otherwise, no human could easily subdue a Time Lord. And no, he wasn’t bragging. His reflexes were sharper. His senses keener. And his fighting skills were honed thanks to years spent in the Time War, fighting at the front lines. 

River though caught on, almost succeeding in stopping him. With a vicious kick to her right leg, he sent her sprawling to the floor.

"Don’t shoot!" The command echoed through the room, voiced not only from Jack and Martha, but also coming from their leader.

Without the option to just point and shoot him, the guards were forced to engage in hand to hand comeback. The Doctor quickly disabled them, running down the long corridor as if his life depended on it. And, in a manner of speaking, it sure did.

He could hear the Tardis humming in the background, inviting him to come to her. He wasn’t falling for it. Not this time. He couldn’t be sure she would side with him. She and the Master had always been at odds. Especially after he'd turned her into a paradox machine. He couldn’t trust her to follow his commands, not with River so close by. Besides, they would surely expect him to run towards home.

Instead, he took the opposite route. The moment he saw what he'd been looking for, he smashed the fire alarm on the wall. An ear shattering siren went off. As expected, the doors opened to allow the humans to escape the non-existing fire. He fled through the first door. Instead of making a bee line for the nearest exit, he entered the women's bathroom. Sure, it might be a bit of a cliché, but he wasn’t above using it if it gave him an advantage. It didn’t take him long to disable the lock on the widow. Sure, an alarm would once again go off somewhere, but it didn’t take him long to trigger a few fake ones thanks to his tablet.

Before ducking out the window, he made sure all his information was uploaded. Then he stuffed it down the back of his pants. Seconds later he was out the window with no one the wiser where he'd disappeared to.


	3. Chapter 3

The pounding in his head increased ten-fold when he tried to open his eyes. Instantly, he squeezed them shut again. He might've let out a rather pitiful groan as well, but he couldn’t be sure. His thoughts raced, trying to piece together what could've possible happened.

Last he recalled, he'd jumped through the window. Cold wind stroked his face. The tiny sand corns in the air, made him sneeze. Whenever the sun peaked through the rather thick clouds, the rays were blinding in their intensity. The roar of the ocean seemed distant, much further away than the few footsteps to his side. He was…at a beach. He was…looking…yes, elation sored through him. He sat up as anxiety threatened to overtake him. He couldn’t sit still. He had placed to go, places to be. An elusive Time Lord to track down. He couldn’t…but some strange tug on his right arm, painfully so, he was dragged back onto the soft surface. It was a good thing too since the sledge hammer on his skull seemed to intensify his drilling work. He didn’t need any holes in his skull. He might've even mumbled the last bit out loud.

A soft snort drew his attention. He wasn’t alone. He should've realized this. His keens senses should've picked up on another presence in the room. Wait a minute, he was in a room, he was no longer on a beach. How had he gotten here?

He tried again, this time albeit a bit more slowly. The cold towel on his forehead might've actually helped, he couldn’t be sure. His eyes opened. At first, not much came into focus. Despite the drawn curtains, the room still seemed to be a bit too bright. He blinked several times, forcing his eyes to adjust. Apart from the initial sharp pain through the front of his head, nothing else drastic happened.

"What?" He whispered. He smacked his lips, realizing how dry his throat actually was.

"Have I ever told you how funny you actually are?"

The familiar voice drew the Doctor like a moth to the flame. "Jack?"

"The one and only," the infuriating man answered with his trade mark smirk. "Here, have something to drink. It's only water, don’t worry."

Jack got up and carefully walked to the night stand. The Doctor's eyes traced his every move. He didn’t even realize how much he'd tensed up until he reached out to take the glass. He forced his hand not to shake. What the hell had happened? When the cool liquid exploded down his throat, he might've moaned somewhat indecently. Who knew water could be this good? He shifted in order to put the glass down when he noticed he couldn’t quite move like he should. His eyes focused on his right wrist. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, so he gave the cuffs an experimental tug.

"Jack?" He said warningly. "What's this?"

"Insurance," the guy answered. "I want to talk to you before you do what you usually do."

"What's that?"

"Run."

The Doctor glared. He never just _ran_. He would call it a strategic retreat every single time. And sometimes, it might even be exercise, because how else could you get a good work-out in? Running for your life did wonders for your body. Err… he was digressing from the topic at hand.

"Jack…" He used his friend's name as a warning.

Jack, though, wasn’t fazed at all. He calmly took the glass out of the Doctor's hand before placing it back onto the night stand. Then, he walked back to his seat in front of the bed. In order not to be lying down, and in the weaker position, the Doctor shuffled around until he could lean against the headboard. His head didn’t quite appreciate all the moving, but the pain wasn’t anything compared to what it'd been a few moments ago. Thankfully his body was already busy expunging whatever drug Jack had put into his system. 

"Did you drug me?"

"I shot you with a tranquilizer dart. I figured walking up to you and ask you to stop, wasn’t going to work."

The Doctor looked around, taking in the rather run-down looking motel room they were in. Where was UNIT? Was Jack acting alone?

"You aren’t as stealthy as you think you are," Jack informed him with a hint of smugness. 

"How did you find me?"

"While everyone else was chasing obvious leads, I knew you'd find a sneakier way to escape. So, instead of acting like all the other monkeys, I watched the road. I figured, you would have to surface eventually. And there you were in a stolen car even. I tailed you until you reached the beach. As soon as I had a clear shot without any curious onlooker, I took it."

"How did you get me into the room without anyone calling the police?"

"Oh, please," Jack snorted. "I just claimed you had too much to drink and paid the guy at reception a little bit extra. In a place like this, they don’t really care what you do."

It would seem that Jack had indeed outsmarted him on this one. It really galled the Doctor to admit it, but his friend might actually know him better than he thought he did. When had he become this predictable? Still, this didn’t answer the question why Jack hadn't called for back-up the moment he had him restrained. "Where's the rest of your posse then?"

"Posse, really?" Jack replied with good humour. Somehow he seemed to find this situation a lot more hilarious than the Doctor did. "UNIT would probably lock you up for a while until they could figure out why you've _gone rouge_. And between Martha and your wife, I doubt they would've let you out of their sight."

"She isn’t my wife," the Doctor mumbled. "Weeeel," he corrected. "She could be. We might've married in an alternate reality, but since that reality no longer exists, she isn’t really my wife."

"But you're connected. You care for her, and she does for you. You've got history with her. And regardless of what she is to you, she will try to keep you from doing what you've set out to do, right?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"And you know Martha. If she thinks you are endangering yourself, she'll take drastic measures. Especially since you quite scared her."

"I scared her?" This was news to him. He frowned. What had he done?

"You mentioned the drums," Jack explained. "And then you grinned like a lunatic. Why did you lie?"

"Lie?" Now the Doctor was really puzzled. He hadn't lied. Sure, he didn’t hear them all the time, but he could feel the constant pressure on his mind. It was as if there was something around him, pushing in. Eventually his resistance might give out. But for now, they were nothing but an echo. Well, except those few times where they did actually manage to ring loud and clear in his head.

"You didn’t lie?" Jack's alarmed voice had the Doctor focusing on his friend. Jack leaned forward, his intense gaze totally focused on the Doctor. "Tell me everything. Now," he commanded.

"I don’t have to tell you anything," the Doctor told him somewhat petulantly. He folded his arms across his chest. Well, one arm, since his other wrist was still attached to the headboard. Quite uncomfortable that, really.

"I've gone out on a limb for you," Jack told him somewhat heated.

"No one asked you to. I was doing perfectly fine until you shot me."

"Doc," Jack implored. "You do know what will happen if I call UNIT on you, right? Especially with what you've just told me? Up until now, I thought you were just suffering from some PTSD. But if you're really hearing drums…" He let his voice trail off.

"I'm not crazy," the Doctor defended himself. "I don’t hear them all the time."

"Why don’t you start at the beginning?"

The Doctor sighed. He didn’t want to. He could do this on his own. He didn’t need any help. Besides, what help would Jack be once he found out the Master was out there, alive and well? Well, alive for sure, but well? Only time would tell. Either way, Jack wasn’t necessarily overly fond of the other Time Lord, and with good reason!

Still, he would have to throw the dog some bone, so to speak, if he wanted to get on with things. "Clara was my latest companion," he explained. "But I've met her two times before. Each time she died."

Jack frowned, clearly he didn’t follow the explanation, and why should he?

"It made no sense," the Doctor continued. "How could one person be reborn again, with the same name and looking exactly the same? I was intrigued, so I set out to find her for a third time. And I did. We travelled together, had some great times, but I never solved the mystery that was her."

"And she died," Jack injected.

The Doctor nodded. "On our last outing she got shot. I was too late. She died in my arms. And just before she was gone, she told me _Four. The drums aren’t loud, they are…_. She never finished the sentence, but I still knew. Somehow, right this very moment, the answer popped into my head. The drums are the beat of time."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don’t know," the Doctor answered honestly. "But they are important. Rassilion, another butt-face of a Time Lord, ensured the Master could hear them. Their constant drumming drove, what should've been one of the brightest minds of our generation, slowly into madness."

"And now you're hearing them too?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don’t so much hear them as I feel an echo of them. Well," he stretched the last word like he usually did. Then he amended the last sentence, "There are times when they do break through. And let me tell you, they are really loud and painful. But most of the time, I can just feel a pressure around my mind."

"What has that got to do with the Master? Isn't he dead? Didn’t you burn the body?"

Should he tell Jack about the Master's resurrection, and about their fight with Rassilion? Nah, the Doctor decided. What would be the point?

"I felt a connection to him. I know he's out there."

"Because you're telepathic and he's the only other Time Lord out there," Jack finished the sentence. His logic was a bit flawed. Sure, he wasn’t completely wrong, but their connection ran so much deeper. The Doctor, however, didn’t feel the need to correct his friend.

"I don’t like it," Jack declared. "The Master is bad news."

"That's why I didn’t tell you," the Doctor told him. It wasn’t a complete lie either. "I can do this on my own. It is probably better if I do. If I find him own my own…"

"No," Jack immediately injected. "You lose all reason when it comes to him. I mean, even if we forget what he did to me, to Martha and her family, let alone the entire planet, he tortured _you_ for a year. And, you still reached out, trying to get him to regenerate. You can't see things clearly where he is concerned. Plus, I'm starting to think this feisty woman of yours might be right. You aren’t quite right in the head at the moment."

Before the Doctor could do more than splutter with indignation, Jack continued. "It isn’t like you to ditch your Tardis. I'm not even sure what I should think about you infiltrating UNIT like you did either. But it most certainly isn’t like you, to let us think you're a complete stranger. Especially when you are perfectly aware that we were worried about your."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I can do with my life what I want. I've been around longer than you have. I don’t need to ask permission every time I want do to something. And if you don’t like what I do, so what? I'm not your child. I don’t need your approval…"

"But you're our friend," Jack interrupted. "And I've known you long enough, don’t you think? I've also been alive longer than any other human ever. If anyone can even come close to understanding how you think, it would be me. And right now, you are acting out of character, and I don’t like it."

Before the Doctor could answer with a very mature _tough_ , Jack took all wind out of his sails. "However, I also know that you're more stubborn than a mule. You'll find a way to do this, regardless of what I say or do. So here's my condition. I'll set you free, you can run after the Master to your hearts' content, but you'll do it with me."

"What?"

"If you don’t, then I'll call UNIT right now and have you locked up. Oh, I've got no doubt that this would only slow you down. But I think this new maybe-wife of yours, might be quite formidable if she sets her mind to stopping you. Especially if she's convinced you're unstable. And I do think she's right on that matter. So, you'll ether do this with me, or face the consequences. What will it be?"

The Doctor bristled. Who did Jack think he was to give him this kind of ultimatum? He was a Time Lord. He was the Doctor. And yet, the crux of the matter was that Jack was right. UNIT would only slow him down. But River? She could seriously destroy any chance he had of finding the Master. He had no idea why he was so certain that time was running out. It wasn’t as if he knew what the drums really stood for. He'd thought he did, but clearly he'd either been wrong or only partially right.

But he knew without a shred of doubt on his mind, that if he didn’t find the Master soon, that time would run out. And there was no way a scenario like this would end well. For anyone.

"Fine," the Doctor forced out through clenched teeth. "I accept your terms."


	4. Chapter 4

"So how are you planning on finding the Master then?" Jack asked.

"Hm?"

"I said," Jack repeated. "How are you planning to find the guy?"

"Believe it or not, there's actually a website dedicated to spotting Harold Saxon. And don’t forget, he's still wanted for questioning in relation to shooting the president of the United States."

"I thought that was all cleared up?" Jack queried. "Wasn’t there a cover story put out or something? He did die after all. Or vanish from the face of the earth as far as everyone else is concerned."

"No," the Doctor told him. "I thought the same actually, but apparently some people raised questions about the validity of the footage seen by everyone. So, now he isn’t wanted for murder anymore, just for questioning. However, as a leading conspiracy theorists states, Saxon is probably being detained by some shadow government."

Jack snorted in amusement. The Doctor lifted his head so he could glare at his friend. "It isn’t so far from the truth actually."

"Oh, please."

"Eyes on the road," the Doctor declared when Jack kept staring at him instead of watching where he was driving the car.

"Coming from you that's hilarious," Jack observed. "You can't even properly fly the Tardis, and you're telling me how to drive?"

"I do know how to fly," the Doctor defended himself. "And I've got buffers. If you crash into a tree, or plunge us into the sea, we don’t have such a luxury, now do we?"

"Why do you think then that the nutcase isn’t too far off the mark with his comment about some secret government organisation keeping Saxon locked up?" Jack changed the subject.

"Because UNIT did have him."

"What?"

"You were right," the Doctor went on to say. "They were hiding something from you. It just wasn’t about me. Apparently, about a month or so ago, Saxon washed up on the very same shore you tranqued me on. He was unconscious, so he was taken to the hospital where someone recognized him. Long story short, UNIT moved in and transported him to the local base. He escaped a few days later. They've been trying to track him ever since."

"This is why you wanted their data?"

"I didn’t actually know that they had him," the Doctor answered. "I just assumed they would've picked up on something because apart from Torchwood, UNIT does keep a very good eye on the Earth. I found more than I actually hoped for."

"Couldn't you just use the Tardis?"

"I tried," the Doctor admitted. "The old girl wasn’t really cooperating. And when she did, all I could figure out was that there could've been an anomaly on Earth. I deduced it might've been the Master breaking out of the time lock?"

"The what now?"

"Hm?" The Doctor realized his mistake almost immediately, so he decided to play dumb. As far as Jack was concerned, the Master had died on board of the Valiant, and the Doctor had burnt the body. He hadn't come back to life, nor had he saved the Doctor from death. Well, he'd still died, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on the Master's part.

"You're hiding something from me."

"I don’t know what you're talking about," the Doctor evaded. The car veered to the side. "Watch the sheep!" The Doctor yelled.

"Sheep?"

"There!" The Doctor frantically pointed towards the rather obscenely fluffy animal standing in the middle of the road as if it had nothing to worry about at all. Jack swore, yanked the steering wheel sideways. Unfortunately, the tires caught on something slippery, because instead of simply bypassing the sheep and continuing as if nothing happened, the car went off the road.

"Argh!" The Doctor yelled, bracing himself for impact. He stared at the looming tree, watching it get closer and closer as if someone had slowed down time, only to come to a stop right before it could dent the car.

"Don’t ever tell me I don’t know how to drive," Jack exclaimed breathlessly.

"If you had kept your eyes on the road, you wouldn't have needed any sort of skill," the Doctor muttered.

"You just admitted to me having skill," Jack replied with glee.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. He knew when he couldn’t win a conversation. When Jack tried the ignition, the engine gave a pitiful sound before giving out smoke signals.

"Looks like we're going to have to walk," Jack declared.

"I can try to fix it," the Doctor offered. He was rather good with all things mechanical.

"No offense, Doc," Jack replied as he heaved himself out of the car. "I'd rather you didn’t. You probably wouldn’t be able to help yourself and create the first sentient car or something. I still have nightmares about the toaster you improved on the Tardis."

"Fine," the Doctor muttered. "We shouldn’t be too far away from the Inn anyway."

"And we're heading there because?"

"Because I located FreedomForAll's IP address in this area of the country. He was rather good at masking his trail, but not as good as me."

"Who?"

"Are you never listing to me?" The Doctor complained. Jack simply shrugged and gave the Doctor a cute smile.

"Fine," the Doctor muttered. "FreedomForAll is the pen name of the guy posting the conspiracy theories about the Master. And he's the most vocal about him being innocent."

"Doc," Jack said with a careful tone. The Doctor raised his head. "You do know the Master isn’t innocent. So why are we chasing after a nutter who thinks he is?"

"Because he said a few comments on his blog which make me believe he might've actually talked to him at some stage. There's just something about the way he phrased a few things which makes me think of the Master. It's worth checking out. Besides, it's on our way to London."

"And we're going to London because?"

"Jack," the Doctor whined. "I already explained this. There's a trading compound there for local aliens. It would be the only place for the Master to get the tech he needs to get off this planet."

"I'm still not sure why this is the first time I'm hearing about _local aliens_ setting up shop in London."

"They mean no harm. Just a bit of good business. After all, if you crash here, how are you supposed to get home? And believe it or not, some might actually like it here."

"You shouldn’t have kept this knowledge from us," Jack chastised him. "This is our planet. We need to be able to control who comes and goes. After all, we have border control for just regular humans. Don’t you think we would want the same thing for real aliens?"

"Pfft," the Doctor ignored Jack's comments. "First of all, you weren’t even born here. So, this isn’t your home planet just like it isn’t mine. And second, with the current track record of shooting first and asking questions later, do you really think I would risk an interstellar conflict? I've been keeping an eye on things. Besides, there's even a local government of sorts which keeps any unwanted aliens in check. It's sorted. Don’t worry about it."

Jack mumbled something the Doctor couldn’t understand. Earlier in his life, he might've agreed with Jack. To some degree he still did, because the Earth belonged to the humans. But until they learned to accept that other life existed out there among the stars, and didn’t have the urge to just shoot them down whenever they wanted, he wasn’t going to risk those who wanted to make his favourite planet their home too.

The moment he stepped out of the car, the heavens opened up. It would seem even the sky disagreed with him on some level. The downpour soaked his clothes within seconds, plastering his hair to his skull.

When Jack laughed out loud, the Doctor smashed the car door closed. "I fail to see what's so funny. You're wet too."

"But you look like a soaked puddle!"

"I do not," the Doctor replied with dignity. He straightened his back.

"You so do!" And Jack was off to laughing his handsome head off.

The Doctor stashed his precious tablet underneath his sweater. He shivered. It hadn't been an overly warm day to begin with, but now, it was turning out to be downright chilly. They couldn’t be too far away from the crossing. And from there, it shouldn’t be longer than maybe half an hour on foot to reach the Inn. Without another word, he started walking, confident in Jack getting over himself eventually so he could follow.

He was right. A few seconds later, he could hear footsteps catching up with him. Jack fell into an easy step with him, and they continued their journey in silence.

A while later, Jack started to stare at him. The Doctor ignored it until he found he couldn’t do it anymore. "What?" He asked with a bit more force than necessary.

"I always thought you were kind of cute before, but now…" Jack's voice trailed off.

The Doctor scoffed. He wasn’t cute. Kittens were cute. He was at least a mountain lion with sharp claws and not some sort of adorable little baby.

"I mean, when I first met you, you were all buff. It suited you. You had a very macho appeal. Then, there was your sensitive 10th regeneration."

"Oh, please," the Doctor objected. "I wasn’t sensitive. Still am not."

Jack bumped into him, nearly sending the Doctor sprawling. He caught himself though before he could actually fall face first onto the muddy ground.

"Now, you look even younger than before. You've got this goofy look as if you couldn’t harm a fly. But I think, you're even more dangerous now than you were before. Martha was right, there's something _off_ about you."

"If you're trying to stop me," the Doctor warned. He brushed some wet brown strands out of his face.

"Wouldn’t dream of it," Jack raised his hands in some sort of universal gesture of defeat. "I know you'll pursue this one way or the other. This is why I'm here. To keep an eye on you."

The Doctor had enough. Really, someone surely was laughing like an idiot somewhere because the Doctor had enough from talking. He increased his speed, putting some much needed distance between him and Jack. When the old Inn finally came into view, it couldn’t have been soon enough.

"I'll get us checked in," Jack informed him. The only reason why the Doctor let him was because he finally remembered that he hadn’t brought his backpack along. Was he getting senile in his old age?

It didn’t take Jack long to get them sorted. He led the Doctor up a narrow staircase. They had room number 5.

"Why is there only one bed?" He asked the moment his tired eyes settled on the rather small bed in the middle of the room.

"It's all I could afford."

"How come?"

"You really aren’t firing on all cylinders, are you?"

"Hey!"

"I can't use my credit cards," Jack explained. "I used up all my cash to pay up for a few days. I figured, by now they might've started tracking my cards. I didn’t necessarily plan to run off with you, you know."

"And yet you came after me with a tranq gun."

"Just so I could talk to you."

"How is that working out for you?" The Doctor asked. He turned. Jack was suddenly in his space. His body heat caused the Doctor to shiver as tiny rows of goose bumps crawled up his flesh.

"I'm not sorry," Jack told him. He placed his hands on the Doctor's hips. A few seconds later, he brushed the shirt up so his fingers could rest on the Doctor's skin. The Doctor's breath hitched. He should move away. This wasn’t how things should turn out.

"You haven’t insulted me yet."

"Hm?"

"Normally, you're always on about how _wrong_ I am. You haven't said anything so far. Has something changed?"

"I don’t know," the Doctor admitted, his voice barely above a whisper, his gaze downcast. He couldn’t look Jack in the eyes, not now. He knew how much his comments usually hurt the other time traveller. This had never been his intention, but Jack's presence had always been like being forced to stare into a blinding star. "You're still wrong," the Doctor continued to say. It was barely perceptible, but he could still feel Jack flinch. "It's just, it doesn’t bother me so much anymore. It's kind of muted. I don’t know if it's because this body is less sensitive, or if I've simply gotten used to it. I no longer mind, Jack, I just don’t."

"Then you won't mind if I do this…" Jack's voice trailed off.

Out of curiosity, the Doctor raised his head. Their lips met. Jack's grip just above his waistline intensified. The Doctor didn’t resist when Jack pulled him closer, pressing their bodies together. "What you're doing, Jack?" the Doctor whispered.

Instead of stopping though, he licked along Jack's jaw line until he could nibble on his friend's sensitive ear lobe. Jack groaned. The heartfelt sound made the Doctor's knees tremble. He didn’t resist when Jack pulled his shirt off his head. The Doctor unzipped Jack's trousers, pushing the jeans down his legs along with the underwear. Then, he knelt on the ground. Jack's hard shaft was right before him. The head glistered with pre-come. The Doctor licked his lips. He shifted to allow his own erection some room. Instead of helping, it only made him harder.

"You going to do something about it?" Jack challenged, strutting out his hip so the head of his cock brushed over the Doctor's lips.

The Doctor looked up, catching Jack staring down at him as if he was something precious. The intensity in his friend's gaze took his breath away, which was why he averted his gaze almost immediately. Jack had made his intentions towards him clear from the first moment they had met. His friend had pushed more than once, but never actually forced the issue. Actually, despite pretending to be annoyed, the Doctor clearly recalled being amused by Jack's behaviour. Exasperated too, but there wasn’t a negative emotion attached to Jack's flirting.

He closed the distance, swallowing not only the head of Jack's cock but also most of his shaft. He might not have put this body to good use, but he had more than enough experience. Contrary to popular belief, he'd never been a monk. No one could live as long as he had, and not experiment a little.

People seemed to prefer to see him in a certain light. Rose had seen his underlying anger and his sadness. She helped him find joy in the world again, seeing the universe for the first time again with her by his side. Martha had appealed to his curiosity, her affection towards him quite flattering, even if uncomfortable at times. And Donna? Donna had been the much needed best friend. Always up for a lark, good fun to be around, and not afraid to tell him off when he was acting like a right idiot.

And this was only his most recent companions. Granted, the Time War had changed him in more ways than one. Ever since he met them, he might've been more like a monk than he used to be. But even now, he hadn't been celibate. He'd just never felt right to abuse the trust they'd given him. Rose might've been different, but things hadn't quite worked out there. At first, he hadn’t been ready. Then, she'd been gone.

And Jack…Jack might've been the one he could share this with, but then he'd gone and gotten himself turned into a fixed point. And there was no point in denying that his previous body had reacted badly to the change.

But out of all of them, Jack's own telepathy might be just what he needed. So the question that needed answering was? Why had they not done this before?

"You're not seriously asking me this now, are you?"

"Hm?" The Doctor hummed around Jack's shaft. Jack's stomach quivered.

"You're thinking up a storm, aren’t you?" 

The Doctor risked a quick eye contact, which apparently was the wrong thing to do, because Jack's hold on his hair increased. With a loud pop, he released Jack's dick.

"If you're still able to form a coherent thought, then this isn’t working right," Jack declared.

Before the Doctor could explain _that he was always thinking, that he didn’t know how to stop,_ Jack roughly pulled him onto this feet.

"Oi!" He objected. "Watch's the hair!"

Jack shoved him backwards with so much force, the Doctor collided with the bed. He bounced a few times until he could finally put a stop to it. By the time he was done, Jack had gotten rid of all his clothes. He stood before him in all his naked glory. Despite knowing not to give Jack any more ammunition, he licked his lips. He looked his fill, allowing his eyes to roam down the delicious body presented in front of him.

"Jack." The Doctor's voice was hoarse. He shifted so he could undress himself as well. Jack assisted, not shy about squeezing him in places which hadn't seen sunlight in quite a while.

Pleasure sored through the Doctor's body. All rational thought grinded to a halt when Jack spread his legs, and when he licked along his shaft as if it was a lollipop, he thought a supernova had gone off inside his head. Jack even held his cock up for better access.

The Doctor groaned. He clenched his fingers, gripping the bedspread so hard he could hear it tearing. Jack brought him to the heights of pleasure, he showed him the cliff, but he didn’t take him over the edge. They moved, separate at first, grinding their erections together for some much needed friction, until Jack entered his body with one swift push.

"Argh," he screamed. His body cried out in both pleasure and pain.

Jack froze. "I'm sorry." He started to pull back but the Doctor didn’t let him. He raised his legs, hooking them around Jack's hips to keep him trapped.

"Don’t you dare. Go on…" To proof his point, he moved his hips, taking even more of Jack's considerable girth into his body. Technically, they might've been a bit too impatient. A bit more stretching on Jack's part might've been good. But three fingers inside him, fucking him open, had been more than enough. He wanted to come with Jack buried deep inside him. He didn’t want to fall over the edge of the cliff with Jack's fingers as the catalyst.

"Jack!" The Doctor pleaded, and his friend heard him. He started to move, slowly at first, until he increased the thrusts to an almost hash pace. Groans filled the room, followed by slaps of skin against skin. The Doctor reached out, grabbing Jack's neck so he could pull him down for a deep, intense kiss. He wanted to ask for permission, but the moment their lips touch, his starved mind reached out.

He plunged into Jack's thoughts, riding the waves of his pleasure as if they were his own. He might've screamed, Jack might have hollered his name, but the world fell away as if was on a rocket sent up to space.

When they fell off the edge, they went together. Not only were they bodies entwined, so were their minds.

##

_Chirp. Chirp._

"Oh, shut up," the Doctor grumbled.

Jack's amusement rippled through him as if someone had just thrown a rock into a lake. He basked in its pleasure until the ramification of what he was feeling settled in.

"I'm so sorry," he pleaded. He pushed Jack's head off his chest, kicked him in the shins, and then practically jumped off the bed as if he was being chased by flesh eating bugs.

"What the hell?" Jack yelled.

"I shouldn’t have, no, I'm sorry," the Doctor stumbled. Where were his clothes? The stickiness on his chest brought him up short until he remembered what had happened. He didn’t need a mirror to know his face had turned bright red.

"You can't be serious," Jack tone held a hint of anger. "You're sorry now you slept with _the freak_?"

"Don’t be daft," the Doctor informed him. He put his hands on his hips as he turned around. Suddenly, it didn’t matter to him anymore that he was naked. "I forced a link with your mind. And I didn’t let go when I fell asleep."

Jack gaped. Then, he put his head backwards, laughing like a loon. The Doctor stared. When Jack was done, the guy took a step towards him. The Doctor fought the urge to take one away from him.

"I thought you regretted finally letting me have you. Doc, I don’t mind you being in my mind. It was the best thing I've experienced in my life."

"But…"

"Do you have any idea how brilliant you are? How amazing it was to feel your essence wrap itself around me? It was pure bliss. So don’t ever apologize for something this magnificent."

"It won't happen again," the Doctor insisted. "You're lucky I didn’t burn your mind! Humans aren’t equipped to handle the force of link, not on a permanent basis."

"I'm still here."

"You might've healed," the Doctor fretted. Then his eyes widened. "What if you died?" Suddenly, the phrase _petite mort_ took on a whole new meaning, and it wasn’t a pleasurable one.

"I didn’t die," Jack declared. "I'm made of sturdier stuff than that. I'm not saying I don’t have a splitting headache, but it was worth it."

Jack took a few more steps until he stood before the Doctor. He put his finger underneath his chin, lifting it up. "Trust me. I will tell you if you do something I don’t like. I'm too selfish to do anything else."

The Doctor was a loss for words, so he simply nodded.

"So, how about breakfast?"

The Doctor glanced at the watch. His time sense had already told him it was 6.18 pm, but Jack's words had confused him.

"Breakfast?"

"Oh, come on," Jack pleaded. "I read they have breakfast all day round. And it isn’t it the best meal of the day? What do you say?"

"I could do with some tea," the Doctor mused.

"And something to eat. You're way too skinny."

The Doctor simply rolled his eyes. Why everyone informed him he was too skinny he didn’t know. It had started with his previous body, and seemed to be following him around. There was nothing wrong with his body mass. His keen nose picked up another smell.

"We should also look into getting either some new clothes or wash the ones we have."

"Breakfast first. Then, let me charm the staff. I'm sure we can get this sorted out."

The Doctor didn’t doubt Jack's words at all.

As predicted, Jack managed to charm some of the staff into laundering their clothes. The food served might be simple, but it was excellent. Even the Doctor ate a few bits of sausage and bacon before he decided to stick to tea. Watching Jack more or less devour everything in front of him turned out to be all kinds of distracting in its own way anyway.

As soon as they were back in their room, Jack plastered himself to the Doctor's back. His hands snug underneath the Doctor's shirt until his fingers could tweak his nibbles. He gasped. His body shook as desired well up inside him, threatening to overtake his body and soul.

"Again, Jack?"

"Hm…" Jack hummed against the back of the Doctor's throat. What happened next, was between him, Jack and the four wall of the room.

##

"I've found him!" The Doctor excitedly jumped up and down. Sure, the information had been a bit easy to obtain, but even in hiding the Master still stood out like a sore thumb.

"What?"

"I've talked to Mary."

At Jack's confused stare, the Doctor elaborated. "The blond girl from reception? Anyway," he continued when Jack just gave him a long look. "There's a remote farmhouse around here. For as long as anyone can remember, Tracey Hopkins has lived on her own. Until a few weeks ago, when her _nephew_ ," the Doctor emphasized the last word by drawing question marks in the air. "When her nephew showed up out of the blue. Now, he mostly stays on the farm, but Mary managed to catch a glimpse of him. She didn’t recognize him, but then again she hardly even knows where France is. She described him pretty well though."

"If he's back from the dead," Jack logically pointed out in an infuriating calm tone of voice which set the Doctor's teeth on edge. "Then shouldn’t he have changed his face?"

"Bah," the Doctor' maturely ignored Jack's valid point. "I'm going to go and have a look. You stay here."

"I don’t think so," Jack immediately objected. "You aren’t exactly rational when it comes to the Master. There's no way I'm letting you run off to meet him without coming along."

"If you come, he'll never talk to me. He can't stand you, you know that."

"The feeling's mutual," Jack muttered. "Look," Jack advanced on him with careful steps, as if he was afraid the Doctor might bolt. "How about this. You go and look into this, and if you don’t come back by nightfall, I'll come looking for you."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Don’t you dare call Martha as a back-up."

Jack gave him his most enigmatic smile. Knowing better, the Doctor didn’t make Jack promise something he would most likely break. "Just promise me to give me time with him until nightfall. And if I tell you to back off, you'll leave us alone. It's crucial that I can talk to him without anyone interfering."

"Why are you so hung up on him? Is it because with him in the picture, you wouldn’t be last of your people anymore?"

Before the Doctor could answer, Jack continued. "I get it. I can't imagine what this must feel like, but the Master's a lost cause. Don’t build up your hopes too much."

"You wouldn’t understand," the Doctor muttered. "Do I have your promise?"

Jack looked as if he didn’t want to give his word but then he gave a curt nod.

"Good, good," the Doctor bounced on his heels. He looked around the room, wondering if he should take his tablet with him. He decided against it. As he rushed out, he reminded himself not to get his hopes up too much. After all, the Master had been around for at least a whole month. And he hadn't even tried to contact the Doctor once. Sure, without a Tardis it might've been a bit difficult, but his old friend was nothing if not stone cold brilliant. He would've found a way to leave a message for him if he truly wanted to reach out. That he hadn’t, well, that spoke words.

Still, the Doctor had to try. And not just because the Master was worth it. Also, because he could feel the sound of the drums pounding on his skull. He couldn’t really hear the noise they made, but he could feel the pressure they put his mind under. Something was up, and it was connected to the Master. So he needed to talk to him one way or the other.

He just hoped he could finally find a way to get through to him. How they had parted this time around had been promising, but there was no way to tell how far the Master's madness had progressed while he was locked away in the Time Lock. Still, in their own horrific way, the drums were egging him on, encouraging him to follow through. And the Doctor was nothing if not persistent.

To be continued in 'To the beat of the drums'.

And here is a little teaser of what is to come:

_"Nice to meet you, Harry," the Doctor beamed, shaking Harry's hand rather vigorously. "So you want to?" The voice trailed off suggestively, leaving only one meaning in Harry's mind._

_Harry stared before his eyes widened slightly. "Here?" He asked. He rubbed his jaw. He couldn’t be sure, he had no real data to draw his conclusions from, but he doubted he'd been a prude before. Still, there seemed something to be a bit wrong with doing it behind the bushes for anyone to stumble over them. He eyed the strangers carefully. He couldn’t be sure, but there was something enigmatic about him._

_"Sure," Harry shrugged. "Why not? Do you fancy a particular bush, or will any do? Or, if he we walk a bit further, there's even a hedge!"_

_The Doctor looked confused. He blinked several times, his mouth gaping open like a fish. "Errr," he stuttered. "I like hedges," he offered up._

_"The hedge it is then," Harry declared._


End file.
